Ham bone, ham bone

What does one do when one has a leftover ham bone what does one do?  Make ham stock and then thick rustic Brazilian Black Bean Soup.  Serve it with some thick slabs of crusty bread and you have a delectable meal in a bowl.

Brazilian Black Bean Soup

Ingredients

• 8 ounces dried black beans
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon cumin seed
• 14 ounces canned chopped tomatoes
• 2 pints ham stock
• 1 ham bone or 2 ham hocks
• 1 yellow onion, roughly chopped
• 2 celery stalks, cut into 4-5 pieces each
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 teaspoons dried juniper berries
• 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
• 2-3 sprigs thyme
• 2 Tablespoons rum
• 1 large tomato, seeded and chopped
• 1/4 cup red onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• Sour cream, optional

Preparation

In the morning, put 8 ounces of dried black beans in a bowl and cover with cold water by a thumb's length.  In a stock pot, but the ham bone, onion - including the skin (discard the root end), celery, bay leaves,  juniper berries, and black peppercorns.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer.  Simmer for 2-3 hours.  Cool, strain and chill until fat sets.  Remove the fat before adding to the beans.

Five to 6 hours after the black beans have been soaked, strain and rinse.  Heat oil over medium heat in a 5 quart pan.  When oil is hot, add cumin and cook, stirring frequently, for 30 seconds.  Add onion and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes.  Add garlic, and cook, stirring frequently for 3 minutes.  Add beans, tomatoes and ham stock and simmer for 3 hours or until the beans are soft. If necessary, add water if it becomes too thick at any time. Stir in rum for last 5 minutes of cooking. Add salt or pepper to taste.  If you like a little creaminess to your soup, puree half of it in a blender and mix back together or use an immersion blender on the whole pot until you have the consistency you like.

Ladle soup into bowls.  Toss the tomato, red onion and cilantro together and garnish bowls of soup with this rough salsa.  If inclined, add a dollop of sour cream to the top.  If you like your meals spicier, add a chopped green chili to the salsa topping. If you have leftover ham, chop it up into bite-sized pieces or smaller and add it to the soup in the last 10 minutes of cooking.

Mint Madness

The world of herbs is a wonderful place. The fresher the better, and most are not hard to grow. One of the easiest to grow and most versatile in the kitchen is mint.  There are numerous varieties to choose from as well...from your standard peppermint or spearmint to those with hints of other flavors such as chocolate mint!  Apple mint has big fat furry leaves with a hint of, you guessed it, apple.  While mint is easy to grow, the downside is that it can take over a flower bed.  I grow it in wild areas, where I don't care what it takes over, or in a container on the deck.  It does fairly well in a container - just make sure to keep it watered and in a shady spot.  I also recommend that when you are purchasing a mint plant, make sure you take a bite of a leaf before you buy.  There are some varieties sold in the big box stores that are tasteless and not worth the effort.  Make sure you have a flavorful one - these tend to have sturdy stems and leaves and have a darker green color compared to, say, the color of basil, although not always - taste, taste, taste - that's the key.  To find the more interesting varieties you'll probably need to visit a real nursery or order online.

In the kitchen mint features in both savory and sweet dishes, as well as making a killer cuppa tea.  I also use mint to flavor simple syrup for sweetening ice tea, hot chocolate, adding a boost to mojitos or watermelon-cucumber-mint margaritas (blog post coming later on this one!).  Making mint simple syrup is, as it is titled, simple.  In a small pan mix 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar, bring slowly to a boil until the sugar is dissolved.  Turn heat off and add about 1/2 cup fresh coarsely chopped mint (normally, when you chop mint you'd remove the leaves first and only chop those, but for this you can chop the entire stem of leaves - a little stem won't matter a bit since you strain it all out).  Let steep for 5 minutes and then strain through cheesecloth or a coffee filter and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.  It keeps about a week or two.  You can adjust the quantities if you just remember 1:1:1/2 sugar:water:fresh mint leaves.

Some of my other favorite ways to use chopped fresh mint are in a spicy minced lamb (or beef) and peas dish from Pakistan, tabouli, shortbread dipped in chocolate, Vietnamese lettuce wraps, watermelon mint sorbet...I could go on.  If any of these pique your interest, just let me know and I'll post about it.

What's your favorite way to use mint?

My favorite summer cocktails – #3

Feeling like a beach vacation?  I know I am, but alas, that is a ways off.  So, maybe instead a quick weekend escape in a bottle? Ok, ok, not literally a weekend in a bottle, but a delicious drink from the beaches of Brazil is the Caipirinha and I find them mighty tasty on a hot summer day.  My husband introduced me to this delightfully lime-y, kick-you-in-the-pants drink after his trip to Recife, Brazil.

Ingredients

• 1/2 lime cut into small pieces (can use a whole lime if small or you want it extra lime-y)
• 1-2 teaspoons sugar (or whatever suits your palate--Brazilians use closer to a tablespoon)
• 2 ounces Cachaça (common brands we find are Pitu and 51 - in a side-by-side taste test we found we preferred 51)
• 1 - 4" sugar cane stick - optional (it's a fun effect if available, but otherwise a stirrer stick will do)

Preparation

Add the lime pieces and sugar to a rock glass.  With a muddler, mash the lime and sugar together, then pour in the cachaça and stir.  Fill rest of glass with ice, add sugar cane stick or stirrer (you'll want to stir the drink as the ice melts). Serves 1.

Now, drink slooowwwwly if at all possible to let that ice melt into the drink and imagine you are sitting on a hot Brazilian beach with the sparkling sea just within reach...

*A note about sugar: the Brazilian version my husband drank had dark raw sugar chunks and a lot more than 2 teaspoons of it, which meant you wanted to stir it often as the sugar started to dissolve.  I prefer my sugar to more fully dissolve so we use superfine sugar.  You could also substitute Splenda or 1/2 Splenda if you're cutting calories. The cachaça does not seem to mind.

Book Review of French Classics Made Easy

image courtesy of Workman Publishing

Having been trained in the French classics, I was excited to see a cookbook that has a modern take on the grand cuisine.  Traditional French cooking in today’s world seems too heavy – lots of cream and butter and not enough freshness in the approach to vegetables and fruits – and definitely too fussy to prepare.  While I still enjoy many of the intricacies of French cooking, the majority of the population are not willing to suffer such exacting requirements.

Richard Grausman has just the right approach to the classics in his revised and updated French Classics Made Easy (Workman Press, 2011).  He has simplified and made the classics accessible to every interested cook from those just starting out to the experienced that are looking for ideas to make life simpler.  For those just starting out there are excellent technique sketches to show you how to truss a bird and use a pastry bag, for example.

For anyone who has used and liked the Silver Palate Cookbooks or Steven Raichlen’s BBQ book series, you will find yourself on familiar ground.  These books, also produced by the Workman publishing house, all have that consistent, easy, approachable style.  The font choices and call-out boxes for additional detail are engaging and de-clutter the page.  I find the recipes in these books easy to follow with the exception of frequent references to other recipes in the book one must look up to complete a dish.

My friend, Holly, and me in Chateauneuf du Pape

For those of us who know French cooking but no longer have the luxury of time due to living the frantic modern lifestyle, the recipes are lovely reminders of those great French dishes.  The recipe for Grausman’s Potato Puffs (Pommes de Terre Dauphine) brought back a fond memory of a dinner in Chateauneuf du Pape in southern France this past summer.  It was a fine summer evening spent with friends out on a terraced restaurant just above the city after climbing around some ruins that were even further above the city.  We had the most divine pommes de terre dauphine.  These savory morsels melted in the mouth with a hint of potatoes, billowy insides and a slightly crunchy exterior.   We could have demolished plate after plateful of them on that warm summer evening.

At the time we did not know we were eating pommes de terre dauphine, but Grausman’s recipe caught my eye and I knew it had to be it.  Excitement had struck.  It’s taken me an entire long week to get the opportunity to try out Grausman’s recipe to resurrect the memories of that fine evening in southern France.  The recipe was simple to follow and only referenced one other recipe in the book. The results were marvelous!  Indeed, I had found the recipe that will remind us of eating beautiful meals on flagstone patios under starry nights with good friends and good wine.

In conclusion, if you are looking for French recipes without all the fuss and fewer calories this cookbook is worth checking out.

Spinach Salad with Roasted Shallot Vinaigrette

In my last post I told you about my African friends who claim that in winter it's just too cold for salads.  Well, it's almost summer and it's definitely time for salads.  With the upcoming week high temps all in the upper 90s I'm looking forward to cold salads, cheeses, fruit and chilled drinks (see my posts on Mango Coolers and Margaritas for a couple of ideas on cold drinks).

One of my favorite salad dressings is a roasted shallot vinaigrette.  I often make a double batch because it's a little more effort than most but so worth it.  How could one go wrong with roasted shallots, garlic and balsamic?  It goes well on almost any salad, but one of best pairings is with a strong green leaf (spinach, arugula, etc.), fruit (berries) and gouda.

Spinach Salad with Roasted Shallot Vinaigrette

Ingredients

Version 1:

• 2 cups spinach
• 1/4 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/4 cup toasted hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
• 1/8 cup chopped goat gouda
• 2 Tablespoons roasted shallot vinaigrette

Version 2:

• 2 cups spinach
• 1/4 cup sliced fresh strawberries
• 1/4 cup toasted pecans (could use spiced pecans)
• 1/8 cup chopped smoked gouda
• 2 Tablespoons roasted shallot vinaigrette

Toss spinach and berries together with the vinaigrette.  Place on serving dish and sprinkle nuts and cheese on top and serve.

Vinaigrette:

The vinaigrette recipe comes from a Bon Appetit magazine circa 1996.  It's by far our favorite salad dressing. Friends say it goes extremely well on baked potatoes, too!

• 1 cup shallots, peeled and cut into large chunks
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon dijon mustard
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place shallots and garlic in a small glass baking dish.  Add 1/2 cup oil and toss to coat.  Cover with foil and bake until shallots and garlic are tender and golden, stirring occasionally, about 40 minutes. Cool.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer shallots and garlic to a food processor; reserve oil in baking dish.  Puree shallots and garlic until smooth.  In a 8" or 10" heavy skillet add remaining 1/4 cup oil and puree.  Stir over medium heat until liquid evaporates and mixture is brown, about 5-6 minutes.  Cool slightly and return mixture to food processor.  Add vinegar, soy sauce, mustard, and oil reserved from baking dish and process until well blended.  Taste and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Store in refrigerator.  It becomes quite thick, so I either add a little water to the recipe to thin it or make sure to take it out well ahead of time so the oil has time to warm up.

Pasta de Namibia

Namibia is an arid country in southwest Africa not known for pasta, so why am I writing about pasta and Namibia?  This creation came to me while I was collecting data for my dissertation on the Namibian education system in Windhoek, Namibia.  As an aside, I've included a picture from Windhoek, the capital, and rural Ovamboland in the north.  Life varies dramatically between city life and rural communities, including food consumption.

While there is ranching of cattle, sheep and some goats, there is little beyond subsistance agriculture. The traditional rural Namibian diet is mealie (a maize porridge) and meat. In the more affluent cities, the favorite meals of both the white and black peoples in southern Africa is the braai - a meal of various grilled meats - and lots of it.  The most comical statement I ever heard during my winter stay in Africa was at a braai when, in response to my question of why they didn't eat many vegetables or salads, the gentleman responded,  "Oh my dear, it's winter, it's far too cold to eat salad."  This was while dining al fresco on a beautiful starry African night.

I lived in a study center that had a small rudimentary kitchen and I was on a limited budget.  My own dinners at the study center had to be on a slightly tighter budget than those of local officials with whom I dined on occasion.  The things I could get cheaply at the grocery store and could cook easily in a kitchen without many accessories were the focus of my cooking in those months. Not being a fan of mealie, I went for dried pasta, an almost universally inexpensive starch.  I added to this leeks, avocados, tomatoes, and seasonings with a splurge on good butter.  The dish turned out tasty and I ended up existing on it fairly regularly during my time there.  So, I share it with you - with the addition of one of my favorite ways to cook shrimp, since now I can afford to add meat to the dish!  My Namibian friends would be crushed that I didn't add red meat, but basil is growing out of control on my deck and shrimp goes so well with it.

Ingredients

• 1 pound dried spaghetti (could substitute linguini, fettucini...)
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 2 avocados, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 3 roma tomatoes, chopped (can peel and seed if you prefer)
• 3 leeks, thinly sliced, white and lightest green part only
• Zest from lemons juiced below (see my microplane post about zesting)
• 1-2 lemons, juiced (if your lemon is not very juicy, use 2 - you want about 1/4 cup)
• 1/2 Tablespoon seasoning salt (I used an African brand, but the one that is probably closest in the USA is Lawry's. Feel free to choose your favorite--I've been playing with our Arizona Rattlesnake Rub to make the dish have a little more kick.)
• 2 Tablespoons butter or olive oil
• 1 pound shrimp, shelled
• 1 1/2 Tablespoon canola oil
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 3+ Tablespoons fresh basil, finely shredded
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and cook pasta according to packaged directions.  You could certainly use fresh pasta, in fact, my favorite pasta right now is Kamut pasta made from the high-protein kamut grain at our local pasta shop - Lazzaroli's in Germantown. Drain and toss with the olive oil.

While pasta is cooking melt 2 Tablespoons of butter (or heat olive oil) in a saute pan.  Add sliced leeks and cook over medium low heat until leeks are softened.  Add avocados, tomatoes, and seasoning salt. Continue cooking for 5 minutes.  Add lemon juice and zest, cover and let stand.

Heat a 12" saute pan (do NOT use a non-stick surface pan for this) over the highest heat you have.  The next few steps need to be done as quickly as you can.  When hot add canola oil.  Let heat for a few seconds then add the shrimp.  Try to get them in a single layer as best you can.  As soon as they start turning pink on the one side, which is almost instantaneous, turn them over.  As soon as they are all turned over, turn off the heat (if you are using an electric stove take it off the burner), throw in 2 Tablespoons of butter (cut into a few pieces so it melts quickly), add the basil and put the lid on.  Do not lift the lid for 3 minutes.  After 3 minutes you are ready to assemble your dish.  Pour the leek, avocado and tomato mixture over the pasta, add in the shrimp and all its butter and juices.  Toss together and season with salt and pepper to taste.

 

My Favorite Summer Cocktail - #2

Having grown up picking fresh berries in the backyard and having relatives with apple, pear, cherry, and apricot orchards, I have a hard time eating fruit bought from the grocery store.  But, I need to get more fruit in my diet, as many of us probably do.  Hmmm, how to solve that problem and enjoy it?!  Having discovered the lusciousness of fresh mangos on a trip to Mexico, I thought the Mango Cooler was a perfect way to up the fruit quotient. The mango comes across as the predominant flavor but its sweetness is balanced by the tartness of the citrus. In the hot summer nights approaching we'll be making a pitcher of this and hanging out on the porch listening to the world go on around us.

The original recipe comes from an old and very battered copy of the Playboy's New Bar Guide from the mid-70s that we inherited from my folks when they stopped making cocktails (that and a bowling-ball-themed bartenders set).  It cracks me up to think of my parents as hipster cocktail slingers in the day, but they were and I love them even more for it.
 
Ingredients

• 3 ounces mango nectar (you can find this at Asian markets if it isn't available in your grocery store)
• 1 1/2 ounces orange juice
• 1/2 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 1/2 ounces vodka
• 1/2 ounce Cointreau or other orange flavored liqueur

Stir all the ingredients together and pour over ice in a tall glass.  Garnish with an orange slice and/or mango slice if in season.  Serves 1.

Ok, ok, this is probably not the best way to get fruit into the diet, but heck, it sure tastes good!

Microplane Magic

One of the essential tools in my kitchen is a microplane.  They come in multiple forms (e.g., zesters, graters, shavers) and shapes (long and narrow, fat and short, upright, hand-held, etc.).  I have two long and narrow ones now - one zester and one grater.  The microplane zester is just amazing compared to what came before it.  On the old zesters most of what came off was mush and half the zest was left on the implement - let alone the not infrequent scraping of skin on the zester itself.  With a microplane zester virtually all of the zest slides right off and in the perfect miniscule small gratings.  You still have to be careful to avoid shearing off knuckle skin, but like a sharp knife, you have to use so little pressure that as long as your fingers are out of the way, you are much less likely to hurt yourself than with the old implements.

For a fascinating read on how the microplane came to be a kitchen implement, go to this New York Times article.  To sum up, it seems the microplane was really meant for to be a rasp used on a hacksaw frame for woodworking, but found its way into the kitchen and many a cook's heart.  While the Grace Manufacturing company may not be excited about producing a kitchen gadget, I am indebted to them and I wouldn't want to live without one. Do you remember the lime zest you need for making the killer margaritas I mentioned in a past post? The microplane is the only way to go.  Your wrists, knuckles, and fingertips will thank you.

Microplane magic

One of the essential tools in my kitchen is a microplane.  They come in multiple forms (e.g., zesters, graters, shavers) and shapes (long and narrow, fat and short, upright, hand-held, etc.).  I have two long and narrow ones now - one zester and one grater.  The microplane zester is just amazing compared to what came before it.  On the old zesters most of what came off was mush and half the zest was left on the implement - let alone the not infrequent scraping of skin on the zester itself.  With a microplane zester virtually all of the zest slides right off and in the perfect miniscule small gratings.  You still have to be careful to avoid shearing off knuckle skin, but like a sharp knife, you have to use so little pressure that as long as your fingers are out of the way, you are much less likely to hurt yourself than with the old implements.

For a fascinating read on how the microplane came to be a kitchen implement, go to this New York Times article.  To sum up, it seems the microplane was really meant for to be a rasp used on a hacksaw frame for woodworking, but found its way into the kitchen and many a cook's heart.  While the Grace Manufacturing company may not be excited about producing a kitchen gadget, I am indebted to them and I wouldn't want to live without one. Do you remember the lime zest you need for making the killer margaritas I mentioned in a past post? The microplane is the only way to go.  Your wrists, knuckles, and fingertips will thank you.

Roasted Garlic and Bay Scallops

 

Ever had one of those appetizers you want to eat again and again?  There is something about roasted garlic that brings me back to a recipe.  It has a creaminess and  soft mellow sweetness that goes with so many things.  This recipe for roasted garlic and bay scallops capitalizes on the garlic by enhancing the creaminess with real cream but cuts it with just enough lemon to perfectly balance the flavors.  The sauce lingers on the tongue tempting you to lick the dish.  I hope you get an opportunity to enjoy this dish.  The original version came from a Food & Wine magazine years ago.

Ingredients

• 1 head garlic
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup shallots, minced
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 pinch saffron
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon old bay seasoning
• 3/4 pound bay scallops
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• salt & pepper, to taste

Cut garlic head in half horizontally, place bottom half and pieces from top half on a square of foil large enough to wrap up into a bundle.  Drizzle olive oil over exposed garlic cloves. Lay the sprigs of thyme over the top and season with salt and pepper.  Wrap the foil up around the garlic and seal so the steam stays in the package. Bake in 350° F oven for 35 minutes.  Remove and cool to room temperature.  Discard the thyme, squeeze the roasted garlic out of the skin and mash into a paste.

Heat cream and pinch of saffron together until the edges of cream  just begin to bubble.  Take off heat add roasted garlic and stir until combined.

Saute shallots in butter over low heat until tender.  Add wine and reduce by half. Add scallops and cook about 1 minute.  Add cream/saffron/garlic mixture, sugar, and old bay seasoning (or Lawry's or some other seafood seasoning).  Cook another minute.  Be very careful not to over cook the scallops.  If necessary, remove scallops and continue to cook sauce until desired consistency.  Take off heat, add lemon juice.  Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.  Sprinkle with chopped parsley or chives for garnish. (Tip for cutting up chives - use sharp kitchen shears and snip rather than cutting them with a knife.)

Serve with crusty french bread and a crisp white wine.  If you find the perfect wine for this, let me know!  We've had some good ones with it, but haven't found the perfect one yet.